Event

The Insomniacs: Blues On The Coast 2009

Arena Theater is proud to host a CD release party for The Insomniacs. These young musicians play vintage instruments and channel a blues style from the 1950's, but there is a distinct new cyberspace bent to Delta Groove's blues award winning quartet, The Insomniacs, based in Portland, Oregon. These musicians who have quickly jumped into the top tier of clubs and whose first disc hit No. 5 on the blues charts and has been highly ranked since its release, tour endless highways in a beat up van, babying a gut-string upright bass, the 1951 Fender "no caster" guitar, the 1964 Framus Star Bass and their magnatone and Ampeg tube amps. They get hundreds of plays per day on MySpace, a site usually focused on alternative, pop and hip-hop music. And they've enrolled a whole new generation of first-time young blues fans, as well as older ones who recognize the roots of their music.

The blues community recognized their talent early on. They won a Muddy award from Oregon's prestigious Cascade Blues Association for best new act of 2006 and best contemporary act of 2007. They were nominated for a 2008 Best New Artist Debut award from the Blues Foundation and their song "Crime Scene" has been named one of the top 20 contemporary blues songs for 2007 by BluesCritic.com.

"The blues isn't dead," says singer and guitarist Vyasa Dodson, 26, "It's just going in different directions. B.B. King and Buddy Guy got started when they were young. The same thing is happening today." Dodson, together with bassist Dean Mueller, keyboardist Alex Shakeri and Dave Melyan on drums bust out with an original mix of blues, swing, jump and roots rock & roll that has crowds dancing the night away.

The Insomniacs are releasing a new album in mid-April and their performance at the Arena Theater will be a CD release party! So put on your dancing shoes! The last thing you'll want to do is sleep! Go to The Insomniacs' MySpace page for more info on the group.